Misunderstood
by S.Horne
Summary: Stiles and Derek are married when Derek mentions having children. Stiles is not aware that Alphas can impregnate their mates regardless of gender and so suggests adoption. Derek is hurt and storms out, leaving Isaac to fix the situation. Warnings: talk of mpreg, Sterek


**Disclaimer: I don't own characters or the show. **

**A/N: Ages and details may vary slightly from the show.**

* * *

It was a late summer's evening when the conversation finally arose. Derek and Stiles had been officially dating since Stiles' 18th birthday and had recently celebrated their second wedding anniversary. The two were currently tangled in their large bed in the refurbished Hale house, enjoying their post-coital haze. Stiles was wrapped in Derek's arms, their legs tightly woven together as Derek affectionately rubbed his cheek on the top of Stiles' head whilst Stiles rambled about his day at work.

"...so then _I_ told her that I'd take the pens off her unless she stopped drawing on the walls but the _she_ told _me_ that her _mum _had told her that she was allowed to express her creative side!"

Derek laughed softly at the tales that his mate had from his job as a kindergarten teacher and let his mind wander – just as his husband began to recount a ditty about the new boy, who "up until today hadn't even spoken, Der, and then suddenly he's yelling all sorts of profanities!"

Stiles lifted his head from his wolf's muscled chest to look at Derek, "you listening to me babe?" On getting no response, he began to poke his lover, "oi, wolfy!".

Derek wriggled away from the finger and looked down at his husband, any annoyance that he had disappearing instantly as he took in the beautiful face gazing up at him. Stiles was still slightly flushed from their earlier activities and the heat of the evening, despite the cool breeze drifting in through the open window. Derek couldn't resist leaning down to brush a kiss to the younger man's lips, holding his chin lightly as he confessed "I love you".

Stiles' smile lit up as he returned the statement, leaning his head back down on its previous resting position as Derek returned to his nuzzling.

"What were you thinking of then, Der-bear?"

Derek smiled easily at the nickname and thought of his next words carefully, afraid to ruin the peaceful moment. "I was, well I've been thinking...the thing is..."

Stiles pressed a kiss to his stammering partner's chest and laughed quietly. "I thought I was the incoherent one" he teased.

Derek returned the laugh and with a new-found confidence spoke the thoughts that had controlled his mind for the past few weeks. "I want children. With you." He clarified.

Stiles froze, stopping the patterns that he had been tracing onto Derek's body with his fingers and looked up at his husband. Derek stilled too, convinced that he'd overstepped the mark when he had brought up the never-before-mentioned topic. He began to mentally curse himself, not even noticing that a huge grin had crept onto Stiles' face until his husband sat up, pulling Derek into a tight hug in the process and was now peppering his cheek with kisses.

"Really? Yes, yes, yes!" Stiles chanted into Derek's ear. Derek's arms slowly slid around his mate's waist, hope taking over his features as he pulled back slightly to look at Stiles. The joy on Stiles' face and the answer that he gave reminded Derek of when he had proposed, an event which had happened in much a similar way.

"Yes, _really_." Derek said with his usual eye roll. "I want children with you Stiles."

Derek had barely finished talking when Stiles shot off his lap and ran to his desk in the far corner of the room. Derek was admiring his boxer-clad behind as Stiles bent to pull open the bottom drawer. He took out a large purple ring-binder folder with coloured tabs sticking out from the sides. The younger man came back to the bed and sat cross-legged as he opened the folder.

"Right, I have here the details of some of the best adoption agencies in and around the area. I know that we haven't spoken about having children but I wanted to get a head start, you know for when the time came, so I've had a bit of a look around. I've wanted this since the first day I met you. Well, actually no, the first day I met you you scared the hell out of me, I've probably wanted it since about a month after the first day I met you, but anyway – in here we have boys aged 5 and up and then over here we have..."

Stiles carried on talking but Derek wasn't listening. As soon as the word "adoption" had come from his husband's mouth, the Alpha felt like a bucket of cold water had been tipped over his whole person.

"Derek, Derek." Stiles was trying to grab his husband's attention by tugging at his arm but Derek ripped his arm from his grip, standing up and walking a few steps away from the bed. "Whoa, what's the matter, Der-bear?"

This time Derek growled at the affectionate nick-name, whirling around quickly as he responded with "Adoption, Stiles? Don't you want our child to be _ours_? A part of _me_ and a part of _you_?"

"Of course I do baby! But you know that's not going to happen."

"Why won't it happen?" Derek argued.

Stiles laughed, "Me and you, Derek? Really? We shouldn't have children that are part of me and part of you, you know that." If Derek had felt cold earlier, it was nothing compared to now. He felt his heart twist uncomfortably in his chest and he turned away.

"And why not? Is it because of your ADHD, because I can deal with that? It took some getting used to, but it's kind of endearing; you're perfect to me." Derek had returned to the bed and was softly stroking Stiles' face as he spoke. Stiles looked at Derek like he'd gone mad.

"Um, thanks I guess. But that wasn't really what I was thinking about, no." Stiles replied.

Derek's eyes flashed red with his next words and he pulled back again, pacing the room. "Then it's me! Why don't you want my children? Am I not good enough for you?"

"Hey, hey, hey! No need to wolf out on me. Come back to bed baby" Stiles held out an arm but Derek turned his back once more. "Here – this agency is brilliant…"

"No! Do you not want your children to be like me – like the man that you accused of murder?" Derek was shouting now, causing Stiles to back into the carved headboard, wary of his husband's temper. "How did you describe me all those years ago? – too 'moody', too 'dangerous', too 'emotionally constipated'? After so many years, I thought you loved me. I'd give anything to have children with you, Stiles, anything."

Derek pulled on his shirt and trousers that had been left folded over the back of the desk chair from the afternoon as he stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him. Stiles sat on the bed with his mouth gaping, totally bewildered as he stared at the door trying to figure out what he had said.

* * *

Isaac opened the door as he knocked, calling "Stiles! I got your text."

Stiles popped his head out of the kitchen, "Hi dude." Stiles led Isaac into the lounge, grabbing a couple of beers on the way. "You've gotta help me here, Derek's gone AWOL – can you morph into your puppy and find him?"

Isaac plonked himself down on the sofa and shot Stiles an amused look, "you know it doesn't work like that Sti. What did you do this time?"

Stiles glared at him, affronted, and cried indignantly "what do you mean, what _I _did? He brought up the idea of children..."

Isaac cut him off with a very unmanly squeal – which he would deny later of course – causing Stiles to laugh at him before continuing. "So then I got out my research into adoption and..."

Again, he was interrupted by the puppy, but this time the youngest pack mate was confused. "Wait, adoption?"

"Seriously, why is this confusing all you dogs? It's the most logical way for us."

Isaac looked mildly offended at the term but replied "don't you want Derek's kid?"

"That's what he said! Come on, dude, course I do but we can't."

Isaac looked thoughtful for a minute until a horrible thought came to him. "What exactly did you say to him Stiles?"

"I said that we can't do that, it doesn't work you know and then…"

"You said "can't"?" Isaac suddenly realised why Derek had stormed off.

"Um, I think I said "shouldn't"." Isaac looked horrified so Stiles hastened to continue. "Well we shouldn't! You know that we can't really afford a surrogate right now; I mean we _could_, but it's too expensive - 'specially since we just bought some new furniture for upstairs cause it was on sale and I was fed up of looking at that crappy suite that Peter bought for us for our wedding, and I _know _that Der just got a promotion to Deputy – I'm so proud by the way, Dad was saying that the other day – oh no, not the time." He shook his head before continuing. "But anyway I've been trying to save up the money for so much and then there's stuff to buy for the baby and the..."

"Stiles, Stiles! I wasn't suggesting you use a surrogate..."

"Then, what?" Stiles began to giggle, "You thinking I'm going to get pregnant or something?"

Isaac didn't laugh with Stiles, leading the Alpha's husband to turn his gaze upon him. "No." Stiles whispered. He felt as though he'd been punched in the chest as all of his breath left his body. "No" he murmured again.

"Seriously dude, you didn't know?"

"Is this the face of someone in the know?!" Stiles uttered his voice barely a croak as he turned to face his friend. He flailed his arms as he jumped up and cried "I don't understand! Why are you not freaking out?"

"Stiles" Isaac began, reaching for the pack 'mum' in an attempt to calm him down. Seeing Stiles in such a panic reminded him of when they had first met each other when they were a lot younger, making him realise the seriousness of their conversation and how far they'd all come. "The mates of Alphas can get pregnant so that the Alpha's bloodline and position will be continued even if they are gay – it's not a big deal."

"Not a...!" Stiles whirled around. "Not a big deal?" He hissed as he clenched his fists. "My **husband** has left me and gone God only knows where for hours because I was not _aware_ that _I_ could carry his **children!** And because he knew about the whole 'I can carry kids thing' and what with him being the general _sourwolf_ that he is, he took that to mean that I _didn't want them_! I want his children more than anything, Isaac; I just didn't know that I could actually have them!"

"You want my children?" Stiles whipped his head around so fast to gaze at the source of the new voice that, as cliché as it was, Isaac was genuinely afraid that he may have given himself whiplash. Looking at the couple's faces he realised that whilst Stiles had opened Derek up a lot more, making him a more emotionally available and therefore more approachable Alpha and friend, Derek needed to do this alone. Isaac slipped out of their house as he thought about it; rarely did anyone see the raw and insecure side of Derek and Isaac didn't want to make anything harder for the man who had saved him all those years ago. Isaac wanted this conversation to go well between the couple; he had never seen a couple more perfect for balancing each other out and he knew that they were more than ready and capable to add to their pack with pups.

"Der..." Stiles took a step towards his mate as he stared at Derek's rugged appearance. The two had spent a lazy day in their spacious new bed, so Derek hadn't bothered to shave that morning, giving him a stereo-typically 'wolfy' look. His usual dark clothes were torn and dirty, suggesting that he had been running through the forest in his half-wolf form.

"Stiles, I thought you knew." The wolf began, looking at the floor. "After all the research that you did on werewolf traditions leading up to our wedding and our mate-bonding ceremony, I... I though you knew and you just didn't want to carry my pup."

"Course not, you idiot." Derek's head shot up as his younger husband advanced towards him. Could this be the truth now, did Stiles really not want to carry his child?

"I didn't _know_ about it, that's why I thought adoption would be our best bet given the choices." Derek felt relief course through him and he pulled Stiles into his arms, hugging him extremely tightly.

"So, this means that...?" Derek couldn't finish the question as he barely dared to hope.

Stiles pulled back with a smirk on his face. "Impregnate me, Mr. Hale. 'To the bedroom and beyond'!" Stiles shouted, pointing a finger up towards the stairs.

Derek couldn't refrain from laughing at his husband's words, grinning inanely as he looked down at him. "God, I love you."

"And I love you, idiot, so much."


End file.
